Always Two Sides to a Story
by TheGuildless
Summary: Aiden, after being rescued from his isolation on Mars, returns to the Tower with news about the Vex and Cabal. The Speaker is concerned with the news, and assigns him a team to "clean house" as the Titans would call it. Only own my characters and very little plot. Almost should be labeled MA.
**This is my first try at a Destiny fanfic so I'm a little skittish on how it'll be received. I only own my characters and some of the plot. I also have a question for you readers at the bottom.**

The satisfying crunch of solid metallic boots crushing a Cabal chest cavity underneath resounding around the canyon he was in. He'd been out here for several months, searching for a Guardian outpost or even a Cabal outpost with an intact comms unit. Popping his neck, he flexed his arms and crouched down to the body beneath him.

The Cabal had suffocated when a single bullet from his MIDA Multi-Tool tore through its breathing mask. Breathing out slightly, he rummaged through the corpse's pouches, searching for usable ammunition. Finding none, he kicked the corpse and resumed his never ending search for a chance of rescue.

Ducking underneath a nearby piece of debris, he looked up as another ship, full of more Cabal, flew overhead. It was intercepted by a string of fire from a Hydra, one of the more dangerous Vex to take on alone. The ship became a fiery hell for any left alive, causing phantom pains to rake down his left leg. Well, what was left of it.

That reminded him of what he had to do within the next few days. One of the more greedy Legionnaires, his informer, had mentioned Valus Ta'aurc would be near this area. Securing his three weapons, he set off at a jog towards Valus.

* * *

Two hours later

* * *

Having exhausted his rations of water walking through the desert, Aiden lept at the first two Legionnaires he found, his knife easily ripping through their throats. He placed his hands over their mouths, preventing them from crying out in pain. Dragging the two brutes between two containers for some privacy, Aiden rummaged through the pouches on the side of torso, looking for the pouches of water that kept them cool in the Martian sunlight. Finishing with the two cold corpses, he stood from his crouch and looked to the horizon.

His gaze settled on the setting sun and the sudden proximity of a large dust storm. Giving up on finding Valus tonight, Aiden stepped into the land tank the Legionnaires were guarding, and activated the blast doors shutting sequence. Moving swiftly and quietly through the corridors, Aiden paused occasionally to let a pair of guards move past him.

Concentrating on the void powers that he'd been taught to manipulate, Aiden pulled a dark purple from nothing and crept along through the rest of the vehicle. Briefly he entertained the idea of killing all the Cabal inside, but he like a little danger. Reminded him of his last girlfriend, Apr... "Shit."

Standing in front of him was a group of four Legionnaires, not much of a challenge, but the Centurion at the front of the group was staring him down. Rapidly firing off all three shots of his void bow into the face of the Centurion and ducked underneath the serenade of bullets that came from the Legionnaires. The Centurion fell down on top of him and he pulled the big brute to his chest, using him as a meat shield. Pulling Conviction II, his personal sidearm, from his thigh, he used what limited ammo he had for it and put the four Legionnaires to rest.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Aiden moved deeper into the land tank, now set on eliminating all of the Cabal inside before they became a problem. Shooting off one of the vents that littered the hallways, he slipped inside and drug himself further inside. Carefully pulling the vent shut behind him, the hunter crawled through the vents until he came to a vent that looked over a large central area. The giant doors on the other side were sealed shut but he could still hear gunfire. Renewing his crawl, he came to the top of the room behind the doors and noticed that three Guardians were firing desperately at the man he'd come for. Valus Ta'aurc.

Utilizing the fact that he could essentially fly with the three hops he could make, Aiden pulled the vent cover into the vent and dropped down, leaping over to one of the light fixtures at the top of the room. Landing quietly in a crouch, he slid over to the edge of it while he grabbed his trusty sniper. "Alright Antinomy, one last fight before going home." Seeing Valus raise his arms to fire the missiles on his back, Aiden cocked his rifle and hastily fired, drawing Valus's attention away from the Guardian he was aiming at.

The shot went wide, but it presented him with Valus's back. Sucking in a breath, he fired at the missile holder, causing it to rupture and detonate. To Valus's credit, he didn't fall down, but he went berserk, and began blindly firing his gun. The Guardians split up, providing him a view of their classes. There were two titans and one hunter. Seeing the hand cannon on the hunters hip, he smiled. It seemed the hunter was the executioner while the titans were there to soak up some of the damage.

The hunter lept onto a nearby pillar and jumped onto the light fixture he was on. The Guardian was shocked that another Guardian was here, especially one that was classified as dead. Aiden rammed another round into the chamber and disabled Valus's left arm. The arm fell to his side uselessly but he hastened his firing with his right arm.

Valus's arm was brought up by the now uncontrollable recoil, chewing up through the wall on its journey to them. Aiden grabbed he hunters arm and threw him to the other light, just in time for it to get shattered and fall to the ground. Valus readied his gun to fire at the other light, preparing to cast the room into darkness.

Forming another bow, Aiden jumped out from his perch and fired each bolt of void into Ta'aurc's chest, shredding through his armor. Receiving a few bullets for his trouble, Aiden slid behind a container on the second story, looking for an opening. The titans were somewhere off to his left, soaking up the damage from the small fry and eliminating them. Hearing a roar from Valus, Aiden placed another clip in his rifle, while slipping his Multi-Tool off his back, laying it next to his right leg.

Peeking over the container and taking potshots at him, he slowly chewed through the rest of the impressive armor this guy had. Lifting one hand off of Antinomy, he reached down and brought his Multi-Tool up just as he ran out of rifle ammo. The titans had finished by this point and were jumping around Valus, taking potshots at his mask with their shotguns.

One got a lucky shot in and the front of his mask fell to the ground, presenting him with a golden opportunity. He emptied the clip into Valus's eyes, killing him. Breathing a breath of relief when he died, Aiden slumped to the ground. Pushing himself off of the ground and moving towards the three Guardians, he stumbled a few times in exhaustion. He came up to the three just as the titans were congratulating themselves and the hunter.

"Nice shooting Tes. Now let's head back to the Tower and drink until we drop!"

The two took to punching each other while the hunter shook her head in disbelief. "I didn't kill him, I was fighting off a large group of Psions in the far back."

"Then who did?"

Aiden spoke up at the question. "I did."

His armor was now ruined and hung off him in scraps. His helmet was completely ruined, and lay forgotten on the ground behind him. The only intact piece of armor he had were his gloves, and even those were cutting it close. "Are you sure you're not dead?"

The three others in the room looked at the titan who'd spoken. Aiden returned his retort. "Are you sure your optics aren't clogged Exo?"

The hunter, Tes, stepped in between us. "That's enough Jerico. What are you even doing out here? No one but Guardians have been out here for centuries."

Aiden reached behind him, causing the two titans to tense up. They'd heard stories about Guardians who'd gone rogue before. Aiden slipped his hand into a light grey cloth bag behind him, pulling out the ruined remains of his Ghost. "Quinn didn't survive the crash, she barely had enough light to keep most of me intact."

"Most of you? And how did you fire that bow, I've never seen a hunter do that."

"Never mind that. Did any of you bring a beacon, an extra ship, or extra comms?"

"No."

"Nope."

"Sorry, no."

Aiden shook his head. "Did you see any Interceptors on your way here? I'm sure I can build a ship with enough time..."

Tes shook her head. "You can just ride in my ship. Just let my Ghost scan yours for the transmat codes."

Aiden held out his Ghost cautiously, as it was his only way off of Mars. Attempting small talk, he directed a question at Tes, while her Ghost scanned his. "Can you tell me if the Coalition is still active?"

Tes waved off the titans before looking back at Aiden. "Light, you are old. The Coalition shut down a few years before I was resurrected. It's been about a year and a half now..."

Aiden let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Years.. How many of them are left?"

Tes paused her walking to look back at him. "How many what?"

Aiden had grabbed his ruined helmet and pinned in back in place with the collar of his cloak. "Never mind, you wouldn't know." He let his words hang in the air as he contemplated telling her about who he was asking about. "I was asking about the people that were a part of that faction."

Aiden straightened as a Legionnaire flew past on an Interceptor. He formed his bow and waited until the Cabal sat up just the slightest bit before he let loose an arrow.

To Tes, it seemed he let loose the arrow in anger for losing the Legionnaire. Only to look back at him as he cheered and jogged in the direction it went. She followed after him, having promised him a ride back to the Tower.

To her amazement, the Cabal was pinned to his chair by a nasty looking void arrow. The arrow dissipated as they approached, taking the Cabal with it. The Interceptor gleamed in the sunshine, almost saying "Take Me!"

Aiden grinned at her and stepped onto the large tank-like bike. "Before we go, I need to get some things from my hideout. You wanna come, see if there's anything you want before I torch it all?"

Tes nodded as she transmatted her sparrow beside her. "Alright fine. I swear if this turns into a suicide mission I will take you with me."

Aiden frowned at her. "Oh you think you're a threat. That's adorable."

Tes huffed in annoyance. "Where is it?"

"Oh it's just a short drive away, deep in the Buried City, in the center of a nest of Vex. Piece of cake."

Ted's face dropped immediately. "You have got to be kidding me..."

 **My question is what kind of stories do you enjoy reading the most? I prefer a story that has detailed, realistic fighting and a strong backbone of plot. Any suggestions are appreciated and flames will as always be used to make something, probably s'mores.**


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